The Role Definition Canvas: define the role on one page before you hire
The page Ahuva builds with every client in the first session. Print it, fill it in 30 minutes, and every later step of the hire comes from it.
The Role Definition Canvas is one printable page with eight boxes: the job in one sentence, what the person will have produced by day 30, 60 and 90, the three must-haves, the nice-to-haves, the pay band with employer costs, who they report to and what they decide, the language and hours, and how you will know it worked. Fill it in before you write the job post; the post, the interview scorecard and the onboarding plan all come from it.
Print this page (the header, footer and form drop out) or copy the boxes into a document. Use one canvas per role.
1. The job in one sentence
What this person owns, and what the owner stops doing when they are competent. Example: "Runs the week so the owner can run the business: scheduling, supplier orders and client onboarding, without the owner touching them."
2. By day 30 they will have
One measurable outcome, with help. Something you could point at on day 30 and say "yes" or "no".
3. By day 60 they will have
A second outcome, mostly alone. The point where you step out of a loop you used to sit in.
4. By day 90 they will have
Owns the role as written. Name the thing the owner has stopped doing.
5. Three must-haves
Without these the hire fails. Things you can screen for in a ten-minute call. Not "team player". Ask: what did the last person in the seat get wrong? What would I refuse to train?
6. Nice-to-haves, ranked
What you would pay more for. Honest order. These decide between two good finalists, never between a yes and a no.
7. Pay band and employer costs
Gross monthly range, and the fully loaded cost beside it (gross times about 1.2 to 1.3 in Israel; ask your accountant for the real rate). Hours, on site or hybrid, Hebrew or English or both.
8. Reporting line and decisions
Who this person reports to. What they decide alone. What needs the owner. In founder-led businesses the honest answer is often "everything needs the owner", which is the thing to change.
9. How we will know it worked
The day-90 review, against boxes 2 to 4. Who sits in it, and the date. Write the date now.
How to use it
- Fill it in once, alone, in 30 minutes. Do not polish. Boxes 2 to 5 are the hard ones; if they stay empty, you are not ready to post.
- Read it to someone. Your best employee, your accountant, a friend who has hired. If they cannot picture the person, rewrite box 1.
- Write the post from it. Box 1 is the opening line, boxes 2 to 4 are "what you will have done by day 90", box 5 is "you must have", box 7 is the pay line. How to write the job description.
- Screen on box 5, interview on boxes 2 to 5. One question per must-have and per outcome, same for everyone, scored. Interview questions and scorecard.
- Onboard on boxes 2 to 4. They are the 30-60-90 plan. Box 9 is the review.
Why one page
Ahuva's rule from a decade in product work: clear requirements beat long ones. At Hometalk she planned and shipped both of the company's apps within 30 days by writing down exactly what "done" meant; the same discipline is why her hiring sessions produce a page and not a binder. A page gets read by the owner, the candidate, the manager and the accountant. A binder gets filed.
If you would like the canvas built with you in a 90-minute session, with the post, the scorecard and the pay band checked against the market, that is the hiring strategy service, in English or Hebrew, for a flat fee.